The schoolyard at Ricardo Richards Elementary School came alive with hundreds of critters and characters from books Friday. There were giraffes, wolves, butterflies, caribou, Goldie Locks, and Santa Claus parading around, then marching two blocks to Flamboyant Gardens Senior Citizens Home.
The students were celebrating the culmination of American Education Week with a book and character parade.
Organizers chose to celebrate National Children’s Book Week too, combining the themes “Reaching Each Child One Day at a Time “ and “Reaching All With Books.”
Joan Murray, resource teacher and chairperson of the week’s events, said the children got very excited preparing for the parade.
“The parade has become a tradition that we have done for more than 10 years. Usually all of the classes participate, but we do have to have parade viewers too,” Murray said.
The students chose a favorite book and showcased it, making masks and costumes for the characters in the books. Paulina Crosky, reading intervention teacher, was the master of ceremonies, giving a brief synopsis of the books each class chose.
Wanda Vialet’s second and third graders chose the book “Germs, Germs, Germs” and made headgear out of construction paper that resembled germs and carried signs with recent recommendations on covering coughs and sneezes.
“This was a book that gave the children a better understanding of how germs enter our bodies,” Vialet said.
One sixth grade class did “Twas the Night Before Christmas” with reindeer, Santa and mama and papa. Another sixth grade class read the book “Black and White” and made full costumes out of newspapers. There were third graders in hats of glittery garland, wide brimmed picture hats of colored tissue paper and top hats of construction paper showcasing “Aunt Flossie’s Hats.”
Harolyn Smith said she worked with her students for two weeks on the hats.
“This is a fun way to experience books and show the old people how we experience books,” said sixth grader Dawood Abdallah as he marched off to Flamboyant Gardens.
Sunday was designated as a praise and worship day offering prayers for success of public education. On Monday, upper class students read to primary students. Support staff, teachers and students were honored for a variety of reasons on Tuesday. Murray said Wednesday the students took field trips out into the business community bridging the classroom and real world. Thursday was open house, report card distribution and a parent make-and-take workshop.
